The reason TribCo bought the Cubs from the Wrigley family in 1981 was so that it could keep the Cubs on WGN Television and WGN Radio. If they left WGN, where would their terrestrial television games (those not on CSN) go?

Where else are they going to go? Sure, they could start their own cable network but filling 24 hours all year long with programs is a tall order.

My guess is that they end up working out a deal for more money from WGN radio and WGN-TV. Ricketts already owns a chunk of the CSN channel and the other partners (like the White Sox) aren't likely to sell out to give the Cubs a bigger share.

I was told that the bad guys on the Northside can't go to another cable station until there contract expires with Comcast after the 2019 season. That being the case I would think they would extend there contract with WGN through the 2019 season. I've been told the White Sox get $500,000 per game from Comcast. I don't know what they get from Channel 9 and Channel 26.

Is it possible for the Cubs to create their own network and "share" some games with WGN? I trust your opinion on this topic, but with the Cubs trying to turn the area around Wrigley to even more of a carnival atmosphere and pending $300 million ballpark renovations, wouldn't a Cubs-only network seem like the next step for the franchise?

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Originally Posted by Lip Man 1

Postering on the part of ownership to try to get the best deal possible.

Anything is possible but my own opinion is the Cubs leaving WGN is unlikely.

One thing lost in this discussion is the current state of the Tribune Company. It's no longer the pre-Zell monolith of Chicago media. Creditors want to get paid, and the possibility that the company will be broken into salable parts is real.

This is a fascinating time for both clubs and their TV rights. What the Cubs do may open up opportunities for the Sox or crowd them out. My bet is that the Cubs may choose to try and buy their way out of he CSN ownership and remaining years of the contract. They will then attempt to form their own network with a partner, as was done with the Dodgers, and leave WGN after 2014. The busses from Iowa don't mean a thing compared to the money that the Cubchannel could drag in.

The Sox remaining with CSN is still strong with the Bulls and the Hawks filling programming and maintaining a strong package to sell to cable operators. The trouble for maximizing revenue is that the gorilla in the room is Comcast, which would mean trying to cut a deal with their corporate partner. Don't know if the Sox would want to increase their presence on WGN, but they may be able to squeeze more cash out of them to make WGN America viable.

According to Sully's story in the Tribune today, the Cubs are looking at that possibility (and Bob Grim of the Sox told me when I interviewed him that he doesn't personally know of the Sox thinking along those lines but that he's sure it has probably at least been breached).

The problem for either team is going to be lining up enough cable systems to put the channel on their lineup and I'm assuming it would go into a higher costing tier, which could also be a major issue in this economy.

Then the other issue is programming. What can the Cubs get? Even YES does things like run movies, talk shows, infomercials because they can't fill 365 days a year, 24 hours a day with just the Yankees and Nets.

Remember JR owns the Bulls and has a great relationship with the Wirtz family, they built the United Center together. Assuming those two franchises don't come on board what would the Cubs be left with? The Fire???

One thing is for sure today in baseball...as the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Angels and now Dodgers are showing, TV money drives the bus. If you don't have a deal, or can't get a deal literally bringing you millions and millions and millions of dollars a year, just for TV, you are royally screwed.

Both the Sox and Cubs are going to do everything and anything they can to leverage every nickle they possibly can out of the Chicago market in the next deal.